


Home is Where They Have to Take You In

by wargoddess



Series: A Family Affair [13]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Emotions, Incest, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 19:32:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19707997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wargoddess/pseuds/wargoddess
Summary: There's too much pain between them for some things. But maybe it can get better.





	Home is Where They Have to Take You In

**Author's Note:**

> For a prompt: Dante/Vergil, make-up sex. This isn't quite what you asked for, prompt-er, but hopefully it'll do. Can stand on its own, sort of, but probably best if you read the "A Family Affair" series first.

_There's too much pain between you for some things_.

Dante tells himself that the words don't bother him, and he's demon enough that this is true, for a while. He's human enough, however, that eventually it becomes a lie.

He goes to find Nero, to discuss the matter. Confront the problem like an adult. Instead of what he expects to happen -- a shouting match, an exchange of insults, possibly the complete dissolution of the relationship -- he happens upon Nero and Vergil quietly making love. 

No, not fucking; _making love_. They're in the middle of Nero's giant bed, half-covered by a sheet in a way that feels almost chaste. It's kind of not, because Nero's on top and Vergil's on his belly, and Nero's body is flexing in a way that makes it pretty clear that a non-chaste cock is working its non-chaste way in and out of Vergil's non-chaste ass. Beyond that, though, it's... slow. Sensuous. Weirdly quiet -- no snarls or growls, no loud moans, just soft breaths. Nero's got one hand parked on Vergil's flank, fingers out of sight as they massage a nipple. As Dante watches, Nero kisses his way across Vergil's broad shoulders, then presses his face into sweat-dampened white hair. He murmurs something. Dante can't hear it, even with superhumanly acute hearing -- but whatever it is makes Vergil inhale softly. Nero shakes his head and bends to close teeth over the nape of his neck. It's so gentle. Barely more than a touch of blunt teeth; they all know that Vergil is Nero's now, just as Nero has become Dante's lately, and just as they have both belonged to Vergil for some time. They are all each other's in an overlapping and ever-shifting blend of power dynamics. No need for a claiming bite. But Vergil groans anyway, his whole body going pliant and his breath shuddering out in a way that means he has _acknowledged_ a claim, regardless. Without resistance. Without force, on Nero's part. Dante's older brother, the terror of two worlds, has just... melted, basically. 

In a way that he's never, ever, done for Dante.

Abruptly Nero looks up, sensing Dante's presence. Dante's expecting an invitation to join them, and he's going to wave it off. Let them enjoy each other. But instead of an invitation, Nero's face goes cold, and his eyes abruptly flare a baleful, hostile bright yellow. And -- hey, whoa -- his wings manifest, all four of them, immense and black and leathery and tipped with taloned claw-hands. They sweep around Vergil, obscuring him from view. _Protectively_ , not possessively.

His first, impulsive, reaction is fury. How dare Nero _protect_ Vergil. Vergil has never needed protection; he's the one who's betrayed Dante again and again. And how dare Nero protect Vergil _from Dante_ , with whom he once shared a womb. How dare Nero protect Vergil's vulnerability, this tender self that Dante has never seen before, and which Dante would've dismissed as impossible if anyone had asked him ahead of time.

His second impulse is sorrow. How awful a man Dante must be that Nero, who is so good, sees him as a threat.

His third impulse is to leave, which he does. Behind him, he hears Nero and Vergil resume their quiet, gentle, impossible lovemaking.

Dante goes up on the roof and sits down with his back against a heating duct, from which he watches the stars wheel across the sky. After a long while, Nero comes up and leans against the roof's edge wall. He's got on pants and the sweat has dried, but when the wind changes, Dante smells Vergil's pleasure all over him: healthy sweat fragrant with endorphins and pheromones of enticement; a hint of Nero's blood from where Vergil must have clawed or bitten him; the chemical tang of lube, because Nero is a gentleman; Vergil's semen, because Nero's is probably in or on Vergil; and the musk of Vergil himself, with its usual bitter, sulfurous undernote softened somehow. Fucker even smells different for Nero.

Nero takes a deep breath. "Sorry," he says. But his eyes flicker golden and he winces a bit. 

"Your demon disagrees," Dante says, trying to keep his tone light. "Mine bitches at me all the time. 'Eat that guy,' 'Wipe out that city,' you know, standard demon shit. I know the look."

Nero lets out a long breath. "Yeah, it doesn't think I should apologize. Says _The beast threatens what's ours_." He imitates a haughty, deeper-voiced tone, then sighs. "But it doesn't have a relationship to maintain, and I do. So, _sorry_." This time the demon doesn't rise, and he smiles a little. It's a sad smile. Then he falls silent, just watching Dante, and apparently waiting for Dante to process. It's weird to see the kid acting so, well, mature, but Dante supposes one of them has to be.

It's weirder still for Dante to realize he's jealous of Nero. And... afraid. Not of Nero, but... something. Almost to himself, he murmurs, "What do I have to be scared of?"

Nero raises his eyebrows a little. "How the hell should I know, Dante? I didn't think you were afraid of anything."

"I'm scared of lots of things. Capybaras: what are they thinking? Toddlers. Normal shit. But there aren't any capybaras or toddlers here right now." He chews his bottom lip a little. "Why did you...?"

He can't finish, because it's kind of an anything question. _Why did you make love to Vergil, Why did he let you, Why won't he let me,_ and _Why did you ever even try because I would've expected him to gut you for asking._

But Nero chooses to answer, _Why did you feel the need to protect him from me?_

"He needs to feel safe," Nero said, with a shrug. "He can't, you know, if he thinks an enemy might see. I had to let his demon know I was on guard. That I've got his back, you know?"

"I'm not his enemy." Closer, this, to what Dante needs to know.

"You have been. Enough times that he reacts to you that way whether he means to or not."

_"Because he tried to kill me."_

Nero takes a deep breath and lets it out, heavily. This bothers him, too. That eases some of Dante's... pain? Yes. He is hurt by this. He wants to understand why.

But there's that fear again, twisting away inside him, now with a whiff of guilt attached. Weird.

"He was stupid then," Nero acknowledges. "He did a lot of stupid shit. He was young. Young people do stupid shit."

Dante throws him a withering look. "You're, like, twelve."

"Well, that makes you a pedo. Shut up and let me think of how to say this." Nero runs a hand over his hair in unconscious imitation of Vergil. It doesn't work because Nero's hair grows in a completely different pattern and the result looks like the worst bed hair Dante's ever seen. Dante's snickering dies, however, when Nero says, "Trying to be human is what hurts him the worst."

"What?"

"Just..." Nero spreads his hands. "When you guys were little, and the demons came? He must have been terrified, at first. He must have, like, hoped that someone would save him. You know? His mom, his dad, you. Anybody. But no one came."

"I was kinda going through my own shit at the time!"

"I know that." Nero glares at him. "And he knows that. But that doesn't change the fact that he was scared, and he hoped, and _the hope is what hurt him_. Worse than the demons. Demons are easy, even when they win. You _know_ they're going to hurt you. You don't, you know, expect anything better. Family, though. You hope."

Dante grimaces, but he gets it. Some. That still doesn't explain _There's too much pain between you_. He's thinking of that when he blurts, "I've never done anything to hurt him, except to defend myself or the human world. He's stolen my things, stabbed me with my own damn sword, sicced a horde of demons on me, tried to kill me, forced me to kill him, come back, and then he tried to do it again!" And all Dante ever wanted was his brother back. "I never _wanted_ to hurt him."

"Yeah. But you did."

Dante blinks. Frowns. "The fuck I did."

Nero stares at him. It's not obvious; the kid's getting better at not telegraphing every single thought in his head with his body language. Vergil's training him well. But Dante still realizes Nero is astonished by something. "He fell into hell," Nero says, slowly. "I know he chose to fall. Stupid. But I figure Mundus took him, and... and he must have been scared, again. He must have... hoped."

The fear spikes. This is it. Dante takes a slow deep breath, and then another, and then he shuts his eyes, and confronts the problem like an adult.

Vergil fell. Vergil _wanted to_ fall. For twenty years Dante has told himself that it was the right choice to respect his brother's decision, however stupid it was. To let him fall, after Vergil slashed his hand to warn him off. To not go after him, when Vergil did not return.

And while Mundus did God knows what to him, Vergil must have despaired, and cried out in his heart for someone, anyone, to save him. Dante is the only one who could have. But Dante did not come.

The kid is right. It's the human stuff that hurts the most.

Dante gets up. He has to move. He goes over to the roof wall and rests his hands on it, taking deep slow breaths from the cooler drafts wafting up the side of the building. With his hands on the wall, Nero won't see them shake.

"Young people do stupid shit," Nero says again. It's gentle.

"I don't listen to anybody," Dante says. It's soft. He's talking to himself. "Never have. Tell me to go east and I zig north. Can't help it. Always been like this." He shuts his eyes. "Why the hell did I pick _then_ to start respecting his wishes?"

Nero shakes his head. "You were just... dead weight. If you'd gone after him, right then or anytime before Mallet Island, you'd have given that bastard _two_ slaves to work with. Then I would've had to kick both your asses and Mundus too, once I was strong enough." He huffs out an almost-chuckle, then sighs. "You had to go away, get stronger, come back when you had a real chance. You understood that even then."

Yeah, Dante understands it. And now he also understands why Vergil will not expose his most tender self to the source of his greatest pain. The fact that Dante didn't realize any of this before is precisely why Nero's demon rose to warn him off. Dante is too thoughtless and too rough. Vergil's tried to kill him, sure, but Dante has always inflicted his worst wounds on Vergil without even trying.

"You can't blame yourself," Nero says. Gently again. Nero is so much more gentle than either of them. "Pretty sure he doesn't blame you, either, any more than he blames you guys' mom for dying. It's just..." He shrugs.

It's just that the hurt is there, rational or not. And the hurt has taken its toll, festering over all these years and twisting Vergil from the sensitive boy that he was into the cold and merciless man that he is now -- barely more than a demon in human skin. Because most demons can only be hurt physically. They have no hearts to break.

"It's different, now," Nero continues. "He's remembering that maybe humanity hurts, maybe it's weak, but it's got good parts, too. I think... that's why..." Dante can almost hear Nero blush. But Dante gets it. Nero's the most human of them. It's fitting that the duty of reacquainting Vergil with his humanity falls to him.

Silence falls. Nero stays with him, lending comfort just with his presence. Humans just _know_ how to do stuff like that, don't they? It's uncanny.

"And I'm just another fucking monster," Dante murmurs.

"Hey. So's he." Dante frowns, but Nero shrugs and turns to lean on the wall, too, gazing out at the city. "Me, too. We're all fucking monsters, here. Probably why we're such complete shit at this; not a single hundred-percent human being in the bunch."

It costs Dante a piece of his tattered, barely-fifty-percent soul to say the next thing. "Nah. He just needs you, kid. He doesn't need me."

"That's complete bullshit, Dante. He'd leave, if he thought he needed me."

Dante hesitates. Even if he's jealous of Nero, he still doesn't want to hurt the kid. But maybe it's time all the secrets came out. "He almost did leave, not too long ago. I... made him stay."

"Yeah. I figured it had to be something like that, back during that rough patch you had. But he stayed because of you. He might not _admit_ that, but he did." Nero shakes his head and sighs. "That's how I know that he needs _you_. Not me."

Dante stares at him, an immediate denial on his tongue. But then he stops. Makes himself think, because Nero's instincts have proven to be better than his own thus far, and maybe Dante's wrong. Vergil would have left, if Dante hadn't threatened to kill Nero. He's still here now because of that... isn't he?

_He could have left anyway_ , Dante realizes, suddenly. _Let Nero die. A true demon would have. He stayed, instead._

Stayed. And _apologized_. And started trying to make something real with them, for the first time since... well, ever.

Maybe so. But. "He'll never trust me." How can he? Dante's never been there for him.

"Sure. Just like you'll never trust him."

Dante flinches. The kid's vicious, when he needs to be. But point taken, to the gut. Vergil will trust Dante when Dante trusts Vergil. When will that be? Signs point to _never_.

But no. That used to be true, but... It's different, now. Now Vergil apologizes. Now Dante thinks before he attacks, or at least he tries to. And now they have Nero.

Nero sighs and makes an awkward, groping gesture at the air. "Look. It's... it's just gonna take _time_. Okay? I'm not a fucking shrink, but I know that much. This is a human thing. That's how it works for humans. I think. Hell, I don't know." He rubs his hair again, with the grain this time. "Meanwhile, I think we should just keep fucking each other blind at every possible opportunity."

Dante coughs out a laugh despite his melancholy. "What the hell?"

Nero shrugs. He's grinning, and blushing a little. He's always so fucking cute when he blushes. "Been working so far, hasn't it? I figure we need to do things a little bit like humans, and a little bit like demons. So we talk, but we also kick each others' asses in sparring. And we apologize, but we also do crazy amazing demon sex. And we cuddle, but we also stab things with swords 'til they die, a lot. Right?"

It's ridiculous. It's probably right, too. Dante hooks a hand around Nero's neck and ruffles his hair, and the kid says "Hey, quit it," and leans into the grip the way he always does. God, Dante loves him so much. 

But not just him.

"Hey," he says, pulling Nero close. "Next time you guys do, uh, human style, give him this, from me."

He kisses Nero, then. Cups his cheek and shuts his eyes and makes it the most tender kiss he can manage, all wet heat and soft tongue and the gentlest of bites to Nero's bottom lip. _I won't hurt you_ , he thinks as he does it. _I'm sorry I wasn't there for you before, but that won't ever happen again. If you're trying, I'll try too._

When he pulls free of Nero's mouth, Nero shivers a little. His gaze is hazy. "Shit," he murmurs, when he can finally speak. "I think I'm jealous." Then he frowns, and looks irritated. "Also, my demon likes you again. Pick a team, buddy."

Dante chuckles, then presses his forehead against Nero's for a moment. He feels... he doesn't know how he feels. Terrible and lonely and wrung out with guilt and sorrow. Excited and hopeful for the future. Tired, too, mostly. All this emotion shit is hard. 

But he's willing to try again, one more time.

"Come down? Sleep with us?" Nero nuzzles him a little.

"You sure?" Now that he understands this sacred thing, he doesn't want to intrude on it.

"Wouldn't ask if I didn't mean it. We only do, uh, _human style_ , every once in a while. And anyway, I want makeup sex." He nuzzles at Dante's mouth again, blatantly soliciting another kiss this time.

"We haven't been fighting." Though Dante obliges him with the kiss.

"Are you kidding? My demon totally told you to fuck off. And we've had a nice heart to heart, with apologies and everything. It counts." Nero chases another kiss. "I think I should suck your dick for a while. You know. _Apologetically_."

He's grinning, but he does actually smell interested, and... and fuck it. Dante's tired of feeling sad and lonely.

"Okay," Dante says, hooking an arm around Nero's neck and hauling him along. Nero chuckles but comes readily. "Let's fuck until everything's better." Because that sounds like a damn good plan to him.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got a period of relative quiet ahead for the next week or so, so I *am* taking prompts, for once. To give me one, send me an ask on my Tumblr, where I am "w4rgoddess" because some asshat took "wargoddess" before I could. Preference given to prompts that are likely to result in *short* fics. But then, I'd intended for this fic to be only 1000 words, and here we are.


End file.
